The Construction of the Other

Our current society is more and more concerned with how discourse shapes reality. Discourses that are constructed by the agency, that is, those holding the position of power. Colonialism represented a historical period which impoverished certain countries from which the West took benefit. However, the end of the British and Spanish empires did not end what colonialism started and not only are entire countries affected by the consequences of such period, but it has affected the way in which Western discourse is used and, consequently, how the subalterns, that is, those under the power of the agency, are portrayed in our society.
This work aims to analyze two Postmodern and Postcolonial works, one American (Toni Morrison's Beloved) and the other South-African (J.M. Coetzee's Foe), to determine how these novels present the oppression of the subjugated classes.